“Water samples and other stuff. So you can’t get out of it by saying you didn’t know about all of it.” I looked at him and wiped the blood from my face with my thick sweater. “Aren’t you wondering how I got your password?”
This time Dad blinked. “How?”
“Coralie Chevalier. Your secret trophy—I learned a lot in that one year. Mostly from your enemies. If a person knew you, the password wasn’t difficult to guess.”
After I said that, I saw the man who had been pretending to be my father for years speechless for the first time. The ironywas that I would never have gotten the password if Isaac hadn’t talked to me about his mother—because on Nathan’s back there was only the surname McCormack. Isaac had helped me defeat Dad!
“See you in court, Dad…Mr. Hampton.”
He sat up with a groan. “You know I wasn’t aiming for your heart, Willa Rae,” he said so softly that only Nathan and I could hear, not his staff.
“I don’t know and I couldn’t care less.” With that, I walked with Nathan past Mr. Cox, Franklin, and the other security guard.
They didn’t stop us.
As we rode down in the elevator, Nathan had to hold me so I wouldn’t fall over. The floor was still trembling beneath me—from the blow of the semi-automatic and from Dad pulling the trigger of the Glock. How could he have aimed it at me? How could he have pulled the trigger? He didn’t know the gun wasn’t loaded. And he always claimed to love me!
“How?” I asked incoherently in the elevator. “How did you get up there? You didn’t have a gun. Franklin has never let a stranger pass. Was it because of the paternity test?”
Nathan shook his head. “In the end, it only convinced Cox. That was a good idea, Will. No, Franklin didn’t want to let me through despite the test. It was merely a copy, not the original.”
“And how did you manage it, then?”
“With your father’s weapon.”
The elevator stopped and the doors slid open. A crowd of elevator operators stared at us.
At the sight of them, I pulled away from Nathan and pressedclose dooreven though I wanted to get out of the building.
“With my father’s weapon?” I looked at him blankly.
Nathan winked at me. “Everyone has their price, don’t they?”
I clung to his upper arms as we faced each other. “I don’t understand.” I was so infinitely confused. So happy, so relieved, but also deeply sad. I had lost so much, things that had never really belonged to me. All my experiences with Dad. My memories. A part of me, and my home.
Nathan leaned down and gently kissed my forehead. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’ve never been completely honest with you about one thing. But I think you’ve had to listen to enough lies.”
“Nathan…” I let go of him and hoped he wouldn’t say something that would confuse me even more. I had no idea how many more revelations I would have to endure before he actually had to put me in a hospital.
He reached into his pocket, pulled out his closed fist, and then opened his fingers in front of me like Ian did when he performed a magic trick. “I hope you’re not mad at me, but it has served so many good purposes.”
Involuntarily, I put my hand over my heart. “Mom’s ring,” I whispered, my knees threatening to give way. As if numb, I stared at the blood-red ruby. “I thought it was lost forever.”
“I only said that because I didn’t want to risk a rebellion—and certainly not another betrayal. Even on Lost Memories, I didn’t tell anyone. Not even Pan.”
I swallowed. Some diamonds were missing. I ran my finger over the empty spaces. “Is that what you meant by everyone has their price?”
Nathan merely nodded and I smiled. “You never lost it.”
“No, I always carried it with me…that was how I was able to free myself from the bonds on the Agamemnon. But now…of course, it’s yours again.” Nathan took my hand, placed it in it, and squeezed my fingers gently.
Naturally, I started to cry again and Nathan pulled me into his arms with the utmost care. “Don’t cry, Will. Everything will be fine now. I promise.”
I had once wondered why I had never forgotten the boy from Baton Rouge. Today I knew. Nathan was not only the first to tell me that I was not free, but he also awakened the desire for freedom within me. And tonight, he had helped me cut the last shackles of my old life. The web of lies. It was simply strange that he had had to abduct me first to achieve that.
Chapter 18
Today...
